


Here's to who you ought to be

by Nylkebi23



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Background Relationships, Characters Added As They Appear - Freeform, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-01 16:42:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17247767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nylkebi23/pseuds/Nylkebi23
Summary: Idol life is already a wild ride. Add in secondary genders and it can only get messier. Luckily, these boys always have each other to lean on.Started as a 5+1 ABO verse, but it kept on growing. Title from Sticky-Sweet by Erin McCarley





	1. Post-heat blues

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Here's another self-indulgent mess. Each chapter will be it's own vignette in the lives of NCT + ABO, while still being idols. Omegas in this verse are intersex, though that shouldn't really matter much since I don't plan on writing any smut. Also, because I'm honest with myself about the first thing I check everytime I open an ABO fic, here is the dynamics list.
> 
> Omega   
> Ten   
> Renjun   
> WinWin   
> Taeil 
> 
> Beta   
> Haechan   
> Chenle   
> Doyoung   
> Kun   
> Jaehyun   
> Jungwoo   
> Jaemin   
> Jeno  
> Taeyong 
> 
> Alpha   
> Johnny   
> Lucas   
> Yuta  
> Mark
> 
> Older unmarried Omega's in this verse are referred to with the honorific -sooye. Think of it as -hyung or -noona, but just for O's. Because in this verse secondary gender overrides primary gender in the case of Omega's, which you should interpret as you will. I think I made sooye up from 2 random Korean characters, but like if that's a real word feel free to let me know and I'll change it to something else.
> 
> ANYWAY. Chapter 1 is Jisung and Renjun because they fascinate me. It's short, but it's gets us rolling. Enjoy!

“You’re a mess.” Jisung said, looking at where Renjun had folded himself on the couch. “And you reek of heat.” 

“Jisung I will literally kill you.” Renjun said, not lifting his face from where it was buried in his knees. 

“Have you showered yet? I can’t believe the manager-hyungs let you out of the heat room like that.” 

“Jisung.” Renjun said. 

Jisung frowned. “Fine. But don’t slick on that couch or anything.” 

“I’m out of my heat.” Renjun said, finally raising his head. He looked distinctly unimpressed with Jisung. “I’m not going to slick on the fucking couch.” 

Jisung winced. That had been a little bit insensitive. “Sorry Renjun-sooye.” 

“Don’t worry. Any blood on this couch won’t be yours.” 

“What?” Jisung said, wandering over. He hesitated a moment before sitting himself down as far from Renjun as he could get. It was the middle of the night and Renjun was still supposed to be locked up in his room for another 12 hours or so to finish up his post heat. 

“Post-heat period.” Renjun said. “I’m bleeding. And cramping. And considering tearing open my stomach to rip out my own ovaries.” 

“Gross.” Jisung said, allowing that mental image to flick across his mind. “Huh. I always forget about periods.” 

“It’s such bullshit honestly.” Renjun said. He shifted on the couch so he could lie out on his back, his feet coming dangerously close to clocking Jisung in the jaw. “We have to deal with pre-heat for a week, which is mostly just crying and nesting, and then the actual heat, and then we go right into our period to bleed it all out. Over 2 weeks of bullshit, but everyone only cares about the 3 days of heat.” 

“SM starts quarantine a day before and a day after. So technically they care about 5 days.” 

Renjun shot him a flat look. “I’m bleeding.” 

“Are you gonna bleed on the couch in protest then?” 

Renjun sighed. “No. Not this time at least. And manager-hyung doesn’t know I can leave the room during quarantine, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell him.” 

Jisung snorted. “Wasn’t planning on it. Besides, I’m breaking rules right now too.” He lifted the bag of candy in his hand, giving it to Renjun when he made grabby hands at it. 

“Comeback season is a bitch.” Renjun said. “Luckily they can’t make me diet. Hormones or some shit.” 

“’or some shit’” Jisung quoted, taking the bag back before Renjun inhaled it. “Do you like, need anything?” 

“No.” Renjun said, rolling onto his side. Jisung looked down at him considering as he curled into a modified fetal position. He hesitated, before taking a risk and pulling Renjun’s legs into his lap. Renjun resisted for a half second, trying to tug his legs back, but Jisung took his right leg firmly in hand before digging his thumbs into Renjun’s calf muscles, working long strokes downwards in a slow massage. Renjun let out a low groan as Jisung continued his ministrations, and his scent warmed. “Ok. I forgive you for being an asshole.” 

“Sure sooye.” Jisung said, focused. He worked his way down Renjun’s right leg, switching to his left afterwards. The whole time, Renjun’s breathing slowly steadied out until it had dropped down into his soft sleep rhythm. Jisung shifted himself out from under Renjun’s legs carefully, and considered his options. Manager-hyung would undoubtably be upset if he found out Renjun could leave the room after he was locked in. But he also really didn’t want to wake him up. He wondered if he could pick him up? Maybe? He might drop him though and that would be bad. Waking him up it was. 

“Renjun-sooye.” Jisung said, voice low and careful as he nudged Renjun’s shoulder. “You gotta go back to your room.” 

Renjun blinked his eyes open slowly, before focusing on Jisung. Seemingly on autopilot, he stood and grabbed the blanket he had been lying on, making a beeline for the dorm's designated heat room. Jisung followed and watched as Renjun walked into the room and shut the door, which made some sort of clicking sound. The lock probably. Shit, he probably smelled like Renjun. Time to take a late-night shower. At least the blanket meant Renjun hadn’t dropped his scent all over the couch. 

Jisung wondered how long Renjun had been breaking quarantine post-heat. It must suck to be stuck in a room with your mess for 24 hours after the heat sickness had all faded. Did Sicheng-sooye know? Did Ten-sooye break his quarantine too? Jisung hadn’t presented yet, though he knew of course that he wasn’t an omega. There was a pretty clear lack of some anatomical pieces. Most likely of course he would present as a beta, statistics were on his side there, but there was always the chance he’d end up an Alpha like Mark-hyung, or Yuta-hyung. 

Boo. Puberty. No periods though, so that was good. He ate the 2 pieces of candy Renjun had so graciously left him. He went to his room, but then he paused. He thought a minute, and grabbed a couple of chocolate bars, before sneaking back out into the hallway and shoving them under the crack in Renjun’s door. Honestly, he probably needed them more then Jisung did. Good deed for the day done, he headed off to bed.


	2. Taeil, Johnny, Yuta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey what up! This won't have an update schedule, I'm just gonna post as I write. I just love ABO more than like life itself guys I s2g it brings me joy.
> 
> I may include the newbies, though I'll have to get a handle on their personalities first. And then pick dynamics while keeping with my percentages. As a note, these aren't the only dynamics I can see these characters as. But I was trying to keep with like 20% O, 20% A, and 60% B. I've read them all completely differently though and loved it. I may even write ABO stuff that's like separate from this with different dynamics. It's all a mystery.
> 
> ANYWAY! Enjoy the chapter!

“I’m staying inside today.” Taeil said. His face was crammed into his pillow, and Johnny could see that The Notebook was pulled up on his Netflix. Johnny’s Netflix, really. 

“Anniversary day?” Johnny said, and sighed when Taeil nodded without lifting his head. “It’s been a long time.” 

Taeil lifted the pillow next to him and pressed it to the back of his head. So Johnny guessed he must not want to hear it. They had this conversation every year, and so far Johnny had yet to win, but he couldn’t just give up. “I’ll buy you food?” 

“Pass.” 

“Ice cream?” 

“Pass.” 

“We can kidnap Ten and you can talk about O stuff or whatever?” 

At this, Taeil lifted his head to shoot Johnny an incredulous stare. Which was a bad reaction, but at least it was a reaction. 

“Just promise me you won’t stalk her Instagram again.” 

Taeil made a non-committal noise, and Johnny knew he needed to act. He crossed the room quickly, not giving Taeil any time to protest, and draped himself over Taeil on the bed. Taeil grunted when Johnny dropped his weight on him, and scrambled forward to grab his phone but Johnny was faster. He shut Taeil’s laptop and grabbed his cellphone, taking one in each hand and retreating to the door. Taeil cussed and pushed himself up. 

“Give me my phone.” 

“No.” Johnny said. 

“Johnny.” Taeil said. He was standing now, and his height wasn’t exactly intimidating, but the look in his eyes chilled Johnny down to his bones. “Give me my phone.” 

“You’re going to spend the whole night crying over romance movies and Facebook stalking your ex. So no.” 

“Johnny!” Taeil said. He ran over to Johnny, who ducked out the door and took off down the hallway, Taeil hot on his heels. “Johnny!” And oh he was yelling now. But Johnny’s mission was righteous, and he was undeterred. He took off down the hallway before almost running face first into a door as it swung open. He paused, mystified as this sudden door. 

Yuta ducked his head around the door. “I heard yelling?” 

“Johnny you ass.” Taeil said, catching up to him. His face was red, whether with exertion or anger or embarrassment was anyone’s guess. He reached to grab his electronics back and instinctively Johnny raised them over his head where Taeil couldn’t reach. That seemed to be the last straw, because Taeil lifted his foot and slammed it down on top of Johnny’s, before kneeing him in the dick. Stunned, Johnny collapsed with a groan, curling around both himself and the electronics. He heard Yuta start to laugh. That bitch. 

“Give it back.” Taeil said, grabbing at Johnny’s shoulders and pushing him backwards. He kept going until Johnny was on his back and he could get at his laptop. Johnny help firm though, doing his damndest to complete his mission. 

“So uh.” Yuta said. “What’s up guys?” 

“Johnny is a dick and he took my stuff.” Taeil said. He was relentless, pulling Johnny’s arms and pinching at exposed skin. 

“Sounds good.” Yuta said. “I’m just gonna-” 

“Yuta!” Johnny said. “Taeil-sooye is facebook stalking his ex again!” 

“Johnny!” Taeil hissed, before standing and kicking him. Johnny expected several bruises tomorrow, but it was worth it. 

“The ‘almost mate’?” Yuta said, shif†ing his focus from Johnny to Taeil, who was refusing to make eye contact, and Johnny knew he was winning now. 

‘Almost mate’ was one way to put the open secret that all of the older members of NCT (and basically all of EXO and SNSD) knew about. Taeil had graduated high school, something not many O’s tended to do, and had been dating an Alpha girl steadily throughout. The plan was to mate right after his graduation and start a life together. However, Taeil received his offer from SM the day before graduation, and he had to make a decision. 

She had a new mate now. Johnny knew all about her and her mate from Taeil’s drunken ranting on anniversary day. Personally, Johnny didn’t understand the appeal of mating right after high school. Considering the number of O’s that dropped out of his class to mate during high school though, he guessed Taeil had been pretty patient. And they were definitely lucky he had waited. 

Now that he thought about it, had the other O’s in NCT finished high school? Renjun definitely hadn’t considering how old he was when he joined SM. But Ten and Sicheng? 

“Taeil-sooye you know better.” Yuta said, snapping Johnny back into the present moment. “C’mon. I’ll make Ramen and it’ll be great and we can watch dumb romance movies together.” 

Taeil made a non commital noise, but Johnny could see his shoulders dropping. Maybe Yuta was on to something here. 

“I’ll steal the soba from Jaehyun’s room.” Johnny offered. “He shouldn’t have it in there anyway, living with Donghyuck. He could sneak it to the dreamies.” 

“Melon soba?” Taeil said. 

“Sure.” 

There was a pause, and Yuta and Johnny both held their breaths, stealing a quick glance at each other, before Taeil sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Fine.” 

“Sick!” Yuta said. “We should invite Taeyong too. Old people party.” 

“Sounds good.” Taeil said. “But don’t think I’m forgetting about the ramen you promised.” 

“I would never lie about ramen.” Yuta said solemnly, placing a hand over his heart. Taeil snorted a giggle, before reaching a hand out to help Johnny up. Johnny took it, holding tight to the delicate electronics. He gave them both back to Taeil as soon as he was steady, who held them to his chest tightly. 

“Thanks guys.” Taeil said softly, hugging his laptop. Johnny shot a glance at Yuta, who seemed to also understand the gravity of the situation. “Seriously.” 

“Anytime.”


	3. Mark has some conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What up! Back on my bullshit with this AU (which will include the newbies like next chapter I swear.) Have some baby Alpha Mark trying to deal with things.

“Mark-hyung, can I talk to you real quick?” 

Mark paused, surprised. Renjun didn’t tend to ask for a lot of things. “Sure.” Renjun shot him a small smile, but he smelled a little anxious. “What’s up?” 

“Can I borrow some clothes?” Renjun blurted out. Mark paused a moment, trying to decipher exactly what he had said. His pause must have freaked Renjun out though, because he immediately began backtracking. “It’s totally fine if I can’t.” He took a few steps backwards away from Mark, raising his hands in surrender. “Just forget I asked yeah?” 

“Renjun.” Mark said. Renjun paused. Good. “Clothes?” 

“My heat is coming up.” Renjun said. Mark scented the air before he could stop himself, and oh, of course it was. 

Mark didn’t track the members cycles. He was sure Taeyong-hyung had some big calendar somewhere, probably color coded and with an extensive filing system (and with little hearts next to Ten-sooye and Johnny-hyung of course), but Mark could barely keep track of his own ruts, preferring to let the staff take care of that for him. But it had been a while since Renjun had last disappeared for a few days and returned grumpy and exhausted. And thinking back, every break they had taken from practice for the last couple of days Renjun had immediately found someone to cling too. 

“And you don’t have enough clothes for it?” Mark said, a bit confused. 

Renjun laughed. “No. It’s for my nest. I’ve been nesting for the past couple days but something about it just feels off.” 

“So I just...” Mark trailed off. Renjun had apparently fully gotten over his earlier discomfort, because he sighed, putting his hands on his hips. 

“You wear some clothing. And then you give it to me. It’s a scent thing. Honestly hyung.” 

Mark flushed a little, embarrassed to be caught unknowledgeable. He knew these things of course. It was just always weird to paste textbook information onto real people. He knew he’d been quiet for too long when Renjun cleared his throat. 

“You don’t have to.” Renjun said, softer. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” 

“You aren’t.” Mark said. “Of course you can borrow some clothes. Any requests?” 

“Hoodies are always good.” Renjun said, quietly pleased. “Soft things. No buttons or snaps. Old t-shirts. I’m due for quarantine on Wednesday, so just wear some stuff tonight and give it to me tomorrow. I’ll wash it and get it back to you next week.” 

“Sounds easy.” Mark said. “Who else are you borrowing from? Or wait, is that weird to ask?” 

“It’s a little weird.” Renjun said. Mark winced. He kept dropping the ball today. “It’s fine though. I always get some stuff from Sicheng-sooye and Kun-hyung. And then I’ll probably do everyone that lives in my dorm, unless it feels wrong. It’s like a puzzle. I won’t know for sure until I can try it all out.” 

“I’m so glad ruts are easy.” Mark said. 

Renjun snorts. “Ruts are easy for you maybe. For everyone around you...” 

“I know, we stink up the place. I honestly was pretty surprised when you asked for my clothes.” Mark said, aiming for teasing. “Seeing as you hate my scent and all.” 

Renjun froze. “What? I don’t,” His eyes shifted. “I don’t hate your scent.” Mark could smell anxiety roll off of his shoulders, souring his normal lemons and sugar scent. 

“Uh, yeah you do? Everytime I walk in the room after practice your nose wrinkles. It doesn't bother me of course. It’s totally fine to have preferences and-” 

Mark stopped as Renjun forced a short laugh. “Come on Mark. You’re an alpha. I love your scent.” 

Mark was confused but said nothing as Renjun gave him a quick ‘thanks again.’ and hurried past him to the van. He wasn’t wrong about this, Mark knew Renjun didn’t like his scent. Mark didn’t blame him of course, the sharp ozone smell that followed all alphas around after a period of high activity could be a lot to deal with. So why was Renjun lying? Mark considered dropping it, but that felt wrong. Anything that could make one of his members (and NCT Dream members were all, to some extent, and to some part of Mark deep in his gut, his) smell scared was something he needed to deal with. 

Time to talk to another omega. 

 

“Renjun’s Chinese.” Ten said, from his spot squished in between Johnny and Taeyong. The happy mixed scent emanating from the three was warm and inviting as always. “China’s pretty traditional.” 

Taeyong frowned. “You said he smelled scared?” 

“Yeah.” Mark said. “It started as anxious but then when I kept at it, it shifted more towards scared.” 

“Well stop scaring people then.” Johnny said. Mark glared at him but he smiled, unaffected by the threat of a younger alpha. Mark bristled a little at not being taken seriously, but he managed to force it down quickly. 

“Listen.” Ten said, wiggling his way out from the pile on the couch. Johnny and Taeyong fell into each other in his absence. He walked over to Mark and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not sure I’m fully qualified to talk about this. Sicheng is probably the closest you’ll get to Renjun, without actually talking to Renjun of course.” He pushed lightly on Mark’s shoulder. “And I wouldn’t recommend talking to ‘junnie.” 

Mark nodded. “Yeah ok. You don’t think Sicheng-sooye will be weird about it too?” 

“Sicheng is always weird.” Taeyong said. He reached a hand towards Ten, who obliged, letting Taeyong pull him to sit on Johnny’s lap then shifting to throw his legs over Taeyong’s lap. “But I think he’ll answer your questions. Let us know afterwards, yeah?” 

“Course.” 

“Kun might also know.” Johnny said. 

Mark nodded again, making a mental list. “Sounds good. Thanks again guys.” 

“Anytime!” Ten said, almost whacking Johnny in the face as he lifted a hand in an exaggerated wave. 

 

“Sicheng-sooye!” Mark said, pleased to have finally caught him. Sicheng paused in his steps, and turned to look over at Mark. He raised an eyebrow before waving once. 

“What’s up?” Sicheng asked after Mark had run over to stand by him. As always, Mark was a little overwhelmed with his scent, the freshly turned earth and new growth pouring over him in a wave. Of all the Omegas in NCT (and, honestly, of all the Omegas Mark had any form of long term exposure to), Sicheng’s scent was by far the most appealing. Not just to Mark, but to all Alpha’s. Something something rank and fertility, Mark wasn’t entirely sure, but either way being near him sometimes was overwhelming. 

“I wanted to talk to you about Renjun.” 

“Renjunnie?” Sicheng said, before heading over to a nearby couch. He perched himself on an arm. “Is something wrong?” 

Mark paused, considering. “No? Or at least if something is wrong it’s nothing new.” Sicheng gave him a blank look, and Mark flushed. It was true though, but he still felt a little stupid. “We just had a weird conversation this morning. You know how he doesn’t like the smell of alpha’s, yeah?” 

“Stop.” Sicheng said, bringing a hand up. “I can already see how this went. You called him out for not liking alpha scents and he freaked out.” 

“Well, yeah actually.” Mark said, bewildered. “Wait so you know what’s wrong then yeah?” 

“Nothing is wrong.” Sicheng said. “Renjun’s parents are just pretty traditional. An omega not liking the smell of alpha’s is something that’s... frowned upon in a lot of regions.” 

Mark hummed, thinking. “That sounds so weird to me. It’s just like a preference thing, yeah?” 

“It's a preference away from alpha’s, and Renjun was raised to marry an alpha.” Sicheng said, staring Mark down. “We all are, to some extent, no matter the country.” 

“Point taken.” Mark said. “Sorry I pointed it out then. I didn’t mean to freak him out.” 

“It’s fine. He knows you aren’t going to rat him out to his family or anything.” Sicheng stopped, and scoffed. “Or at least, he knows you aren’t in his head. His gut however. Different story. Just give him a day.” 

“So is your family...?” Mark trailed off, not sure of the question he was trying to ask. 

Sicheng smiled, but it wasn’t a nice one. Mark could smell a trace of bitterness spread over the deep soil. “My family doesn’t like to think much of me. But it worked out well for me. I went to a top of the line omega-only boarding school.” He turned on his perch and fell backwards, dropping his back onto the couch. “I got the best education of probably anyone in NCT. As well as etiquette classes of course. But those are a fair trade.” 

Mark literally could not imagine. He went to a public school, though he did take a few weeks off after his presentation. That was pretty normal, since it was so easy to become overwhelmed right afterwards. Then he was right back in public school. 

Thinking back though, there were a couple of kids who didn’t come back after presenting. He hadn’t thought about it at the time. He wondered where they went, if they went to boarding schools, or no school at all. 

“So what I’m getting out of this conversation is just never mention it again.” 

Sicheng made a face. “I’m not sure. I think I might need to talk to him. Slightly overdue conversation.” He trailed off, and Mark waited, letting him think. Sicheng refocused his eyes in on Mark. “For you though, yes. Just don’t bring it up again. Renjun is going into heat anyway, he’ll forget all about this when he’s out.” Maybe Sicheng had a big calendar too. Or maybe Mark really had just gone entirely nose-blind to his unit. 

“Good talk.” Mark said, not without some awkwardness. Sicheng shot him an indulgent smile, and patted him once on the head, before standing and wandering off.

What a day. Mark was going to bed early tonight.


End file.
